After getting out of bed, he found that the roof of his house was on fire. “I walked out of the upstairs terrace, and I looked to my right and saw a fire,” Joel said. “It was really scary, really scary.” “I came outside on the porch and saw the flames,” he told WFTV. “I tried to put it out with water but it didn`t work.” Joel and Maggie managed to get to safety and called 911 for help. Firefighters from the Orange County Fire Department were on the scene trying to put out the fire. The fire reportedly spread from the roof to the second floor of the house, causing it to partially collapse. It was probably caused by lightning. “We believe it was lightning from yesterday’s hurricane that hit the house and the lightning infected inside the roof,” Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa McDonald told WESH. “This is a 7,000-square-foot house. This is a very large house, and 80% of it was involved in the blaze.” Luckily, everyone in the house survived, and it was all thanks to Maggie. Joel says he wouldn’t have noticed the fire without the woman’s intervention, and it’s easy to imagine how the worst could have happened had he not caught it in time. The fire could have spread further, making escape impossible. “Homeowners should definitely thank their pets for waking them up,” McDonald said. Joel certainly knew he owed his dog his life. “Oh, she’s my hero,” he said. “I love my dogs. It’s amazing. I’d say it saved my life.”